The Bivings Group has just released their 2008 report on how newspapers are using the Internet and some of the results are interesting. According to the study 58% of newspaper sites now accept some form of user generated content, 78% now allow comments on articles, compared to 33% in 2007, and currently only 11% of newspapers now require registration to view content, compared to 29% last year.

None of these numbers, all things considered, are all that surprising. However, it will be interesting to see how next year's numbers shape up. One imagines the percentage of user-generated content will go up, as will the comments on articles. But one can also imagine as the transition to online content accelerates that the number of newspapers requiring some sort of registration and/or charge for content will also rise.